The News Journal
09/27/2005
A Delaware prison inmate serving time for traffic violations -- including driving under the influence of alcohol -- Bernadette Fogell said trouble with her pregnancy started weeks before birth. Prison documents show that she complained to nurses at Delores J. Baylor Women's Correctional Institution in New Castle. But in a lawsuit filed against Delaware's prison medical provider and the state, Fogell claims nothing was done.
"What could I do?" Fogell asked. "You're helpless. It's not like you can get in your car and leave looking for competent medical care."
Her water broke at 11 p.m. on March 19, 2001. Several inmates on her wing changed Fogell into dry sweat pants. Two nurses arrived and one scolded her, Fogell claimed, suggesting that Fogell's water had not broken. Rather, the nurse suggested, Fogell had urinated in her pants.
Fogell was taken to the infirmary, where she was left alone in a filthy room with no sheets, blankets or pillow, she claimed.
Prison documents included in the federal lawsuit Fogell filed in 2001 against First Correctional Medical, the state, a local doctor and St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington (which has since been dropped from the suit) show that nurses checked on Fogell until 2:25 a.m. Those same records indicate that Fogell went unchecked between 2:25 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.
"I just couldn't figure out why I wasn't going [to the hospital]," Fogell said.
At 8:40 a.m. an ambulance was called, and Fogell was admitted to St. Francis Hospital, where doctors told her she would be transferred to Christiana Hospital. Health care workers said they would try to prolong the delivery to allow time for the transfer, Fogell said. It never happened.
A doctor arrived about 4:30 p.m., more than 17 hours after her water broke. According to medical records, the doctor wrote there had been "no prenatal complications til now." An hour and a half later, "The nurse came in and told me they were inducing the baby," Fogell said.
Twenty-two weeks after conception, Anna Lee was born at 11:27 p.m. -- 24 hours and 27 minutes after Fogell's water broke.
Fogell cradled her newborn daughter, who was dressed in a light blue gown. The infant, whose eyelids were fused, wasn't breathing. Anna Lee jerked several times, and her heart continued to slow, medical records show.
Fogell said she called for help, but claimed nurses nearby wouldn't respond. She placed her mouth over Anna Lee's tiny lips and nose and tried to resuscitate her. But the baby continued to fade.
"There was no attempt to save her," Fogell claimed. "Nobody was doing anything. I kept crying and singing to her, 'You are my sunshine.' I just didn't know what else to do."
As she held the baby in her arms, Fogell realized it would be the last time she ever saw her.
The same doctor reached inside her womb and removed the placenta -- or at least he thought he did. Two hours after the doctor finished with what he thought was the last of the placenta, at 3:10 a.m., Anna Lee died. Days later Fogell contracted an infection that led to her being hospitalized again, where the remainder of her placenta was taken out.
Prison officials and the state's medical vendor at the time, FCM, declined to comment.
Represented herself
Unable to hire a lawyer, Fogell, a cook, decided to represent herself in court, claiming inadequate medical care. In an order signed earlier this month, Chief U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson said Fogell needed an attorney and asked the Federal Civil Panel, a pool of volunteer lawyers who represent prisoners involved in civil litigation, to review her case for consideration.
Fogell is not the only woman inside Baylor prison to have lost a child.
Marocka Jeter was pregnant when she entered the prison July 9, 2002, after being convicted of possessing narcotics with intent to deliver and conspiracy. Jeter suffered a miscarriage while in her cell Sept. 28, 2002, nine days after her prison sentence was supposed to have ended. She was being held at Baylor until space became available at the Plummer Center work-release program, where she was to begin serving her probation.
Prison officials said Jeter had been taken to the prison infirmary after complaining of stomach pains in the early morning, but was returned to her cell. She miscarried her 22-week-old fetus 13 hours later.
The Delaware Department of Correction investigated Jeter's medical care, said correction spokeswoman Beth Welch, but closed the probe in December 2002 without disclosing its findings.
Jeter has not filed a lawsuit.
Criminal record
Fogell was arrested Jan. 13, 2000, on charges that included driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, two counts of first-degree vehicular assault and driving with a suspended driver's license and no insurance.
She was convicted and sentenced on Dec. 13, 2000, to more than two years in prison. She was pregnant at that time.
"I didn't know how far along I was," she said.
According to prison medical records, Fogell was about eight weeks pregnant when she was sent to prison. The same records show she admitted using heroin and cocaine a week earlier, or seven weeks after conception, a claim Fogell denies.
While at Baylor, Fogell said, she complained that she didn't receive prenatal snacks that were routine for pregnant inmates. She also was experiencing severe cramping and vaginal discharge -- symptoms that together suggest problems with the pregnancy. Eventually, she was given extra food and some tests were performed, but Fogell said she was told everything was fine.
According to prison medical records, Fogell had been pregnant seven previous times; two of those pregnancies were terminated, three were miscarried and two produced children -- David, 15, and Brooke, 10. Fogell claimed she has only been pregnant three times before Anna Lee and only one ended in a miscarriage.
"There is a lot of things throughout my records that I don't know where the stuff came from," Fogell said. "It did not come from me."
Prison medical records listed Fogell as "high risk," and Rh-negative, which means she is missing a protein on the surface of her red blood cells. About 15 percent of the population have this condition, which can cause problems when an Rh-negative mother is carrying an Rh-positive baby. If their blood mixes, the mother's immune system will produce antibodies that attack the baby's red blood cells, causing anemia or jaundice in the child.
Fogell said her pregnancy was more complicated than it should have been because she was forced to remain in the Key program, a substance-abuse treatment program that provides regimented physical routines.
"I couldn't get out of bed, but you had to," she said. "In the [Key program] they always have you moving around."
Delaware policy
On any given day, prison spokeswoman Welch said, there are about 10 pregnant inmates at Baylor, the state's only women's prison. One or two deliver a baby every month.
During the pregnancy, Welch said, it is up to the medical contractor to provide prenatal and postpartum check-ups and care. There are no pregnancy programs at the women's prison, such as doula service. Doula is a Greek word used to describe a nonmedical assistant in prenatal care, childbirth and postpartum care.
Others states' prisons, such as Pennsylvania's Cambridge Springs facility, have doula programs.
Once labor is imminent or has begun, Welch said, inmates are taken to a hospital. After the baby is born, only the father is allowed in the birthing room. (By comparison, Pennsylvania allows for other visitors, so long as the person has been approved by correction officials.)
The baby will remain with the mother for 24 to 48 hours. After that, the child is turned over to a guardian designated by the mother a few weeks before the birth. If the mother fails to choose a guardian, the state Division of Family Services will take custody.
No one from the prison notified Fogell's family when Anna Lee was born. Fogell said her parents were notified only when she gave their phone number to a St. Francis nurse. Her family arrived and took the infant's body to Torbert Funeral Chapel in Dover.
Fogell could not attend the funeral.
Contact Esteban Parra at 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com. Contact investigative reporter Lee Williams at 324-2362 or lwilliams@delawareonline.com.
